DONEGAL Deputy Pearse Doherty has today criticised the new Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar for his refusal to, at the very least, link state contributions paid to community and social enterprises to minimum wage rates in future.
Deputy Doherty’s remarks come following correspondence from the Minister this week in which he indicates that there are no plans to set funding amounts allocated to social enterprises through the Department’s Community Services Programme (CSP) to the minimum rate of pay as determined by the Minimum Wage.
Deputy Doherty says the Minister’s comments are yet another huge blow for community companies and has shown that the new Government will not offer any additional support to community companies.
Deputy Doherty told Donegal Daily: “The Community Services Programme is financed by the Department of Social Protection and provides grants to community businesses that deliver services and create much needed employment for people from disadvantaged groups, including a number of companies based here in Donegal.
“Community based companies from all across the county have been in contact with me over the last number of months to express their growing anger and frustration at the previous Government’s decision not to increase funding levels paid to them through the scheme in line with the most recent increase to the Minimum wage.
“In fact, I raised the issue at the start of the year with the previous Minister as many of these companies feared for their survival should allocations paid to them not increase proportionately in order to off-set the additional overheads incurred as a result of the 50 cent per hour Minimum wage increase which took effect at the start of the year.
“The then Minister refused to agree to any such increase but instead took the line that the fund is paid to service providers on the basis that they are not fully self-financing and that it is only a contribution towards wage and running costs and is therefore not intended to fully meet a company’s liabilities in respect of either of these costs.
“In recent days, and following the appointment of the Minister’s successor, CSP companies have asked that the issue of funding once again be raised with the new Minister for Social Protection in the hope that the Government would have considered changing its position in relation to the scheme.
“However, the Minister has confirmed to me this week through a Dáil Question that the Government’s position has not changed and has stated that he is satisfied that current CSP funding is adequate to meet the needs of the scheme.
“This confirmation from the Minister, while not surprising, is yet another blow to social enterprises in Donegal which carry out such tremendous work in their local communities and provide local people with employment opportunities, without which, would otherwise not exist.
“While this news is obviously extremely disappointing for CSP businesses and all those who avail of their services, I and my party colleagues will continue to fight their corner and speak up for all those who depend on social enterprise and the opportunities which they provide to communities across the state.”